Wednesday, March 21st, 2008
Army starts moving nerve gas
By Mary Hopkin, Herald staff writer

Workers on Thursday began moving more than 32,300, 155-mm VX-filled artillery shells from Umatilla Chemical Depot bunkers to the incinerator site for destruction.

Within a few days, workers at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility will begin destroying the shells, which each contain about six pounds of VX, a lethal nerve agent.

"We're pleased to begin yet another chemical munitions disposal campaign," said Mike Strong, the Army's site project manager.

Doug Hamrick, Washington Defense Group's general manager for the incinerator project, said incineration of the weapons slowly will begin to make sure all the equipment is working properly.

The last VX rocket was destroyed Jan. 23. Since then, workers have been readjusting equipment at the plant to handle the smaller artillery shells.

Depot spokesman Bruce Henrickson said the VX rockets, which each contain about 10 pounds of nerve agent, were self-propelled and contained explosive warheads -- making them much more volatile than the VX-filled artillery shells, which are shot from cannons.

The chemical munitions have been stored at the depot since the 1960s. They served as a Cold War deterrent but are now aging, obsolete and prone to leaking.

Destruction of the chemical stockpile at the depot started Sept. 8, 2004, with sarin-filled rockets. Since then, workers at the incinerator have burned up:

Four sarin-filled ton containers; 27 sarin-filled 500-pound bombs; 2,418 sarin-filled 750-pound bombs; 91,442 sarin-filled rockets and warheads, 3,752 sarin-filled 8-inch artillery shells and 47,506 sarin-filled 155 mm artillery shells, plus one bulk container of VX; 156 VX aircraft-mounted spray tanks and 14,519 VX-filled rockets and warheads.

When the VX-filled 155 mm rockets are destroyed later this summer, there will be another shutdown to change over the plant to begin destroying VX-filled, 8-inch artillery shells, which are a little larger.

The depot then will be nerve-agent free, but it still must destroy its blister agents.

The final campaign at the incinerator will be destruction of the bulk containers of mustard agent.

Henrickson said the VX is scheduled to be gone by spring 2009, if there are no significant delays. And the mustard agent is scheduled to be destroyed by 2012.